Rogers to kill the SAF… sort of

Yes, yes, we know — Canadians hate the System Access Fee just as much as they hate American beer. “Thankfully” as of October 5th, new and existing Rogers customers will finally be able to ditch the SAF. It’s not that Rogers has all of a sudden found its heart and decided to give its customers a respite. Oh, no, no. It’s simply going to lower the fee, rename it the Government Regulatory Recovery Fee and jack up the price of each and every plan by about $5. If the GRRF gives you the impression that it’s a government mandated fee then you’re sorely mistaken. It’s just another way for Rogers to pass the buck on all of the various federal, provincial and municipal fees and taxes that it itself pays in order to offer its services in a given area. For the most part, all existing consumers need to know is that they are free too keep their current plan with SAF, but any voice plan changes after October 5th (or anyone who joins Rogers, for that matter) will result in their account being switched over to the GRRF system. But hey, it’s not all that bad: Rogers is going to give you Call Forwarding, WhoCalled, and Call Manager for free. Wait a tick, those are already included most value packs…

So long as you don’t sit down you won’t notice the fact you’ve just been… relieved of all that spare cash in your back pocket.

I think the average Joe doesn’t know about Wind, Videotron, DAVE, or any of the changes coming. Bell and Telus switching to HSPA? Might as well tell ask about the mineral composition of lunar rock. So the incumbents are squeezing as much out of the existing uninformed clientele as they can leading up to the big changes.

Colin

Definitely, but, it doesn’t take a rocket surgery genius to add up that this change makes the bill a little bit higher. Isn’t this likely to make people more inclined to jump ship as soon as they can, if for instance Telus were to pick up the iPhone?

Marty the One Stop Party

I HATE AMERICAN BEER.
I TRIED HARPOON AND UFO LAST NIGHT. DISGUSTING!
MCLEOB LITE WAS THE ONLY BEER WORTHWHILE DRINKING, STILL SUCKED THOUGH!

Nt

good ol Switcheroo – sick of these well oiled snakes that is rogers wireless

J.P Michaels

Well, we might see Telus and Bell follow this path if they can realize a higher revenue stream per customer this way.

Cybertyro

mangenius

Yes there is a $1.95 savings on the system fee but when you consider that an extra $2.46 to $3.46 charge for the new gov fee and each plan is being raised by $5 that means 0.51$ to $1.51 increase in my monthly bill depending on the province.

So no I’m not saving anything

Keith

With all the tools available to us today and the seemingly unanimous disapproval of Rogers corporate policies and Canada’s lack of real choice; its a wonder we aren’t all organized in protest.

I had a high pressure Rogers telemarkter call my cell the other day only to try and push on me a deal for a ‘free new phone’ it took a number of tries before I got him to accept the fact I had a cell phone on a long term contract which was much nicer than the free one he was offering. Defeated he said ‘Oh well this offer only applies to people who don’t already have a cell-phone, is there anyone else in your household without one?

Did you seriously just call my cell phone on behalf of my carrier to push to me a deal only available to people without cellphones who sign up on a new contract? Pathetic…

sweet, a good time to renegotiate that fee out of my contract all together, thanks retentions.

bbgirl

If you stay on your current services without changing your base wireless plan, you’re fine, no extra fees. *ONLY* if you change your base plan, then you will be migrated to the new plan. Changing your plan = renegotiating terms of service. if you accept a new plan, you accept these fees. Soo… just don’t change your plan. Easy. If you want cell phone prices to get better in canada we need like 3 times the amount of subscribers in this country – so get your dog, your grandma and your 5 year old a cell phone then maybe we’d be more like the states. Didn’t anyone read the article in the star about how somalia has better penetration rates in wireless than canada?? its because there’s soo much country, soo few people using them.

Ron

these parasites won’t quit will they. we are in a recession, yet these greedy scumbags will never stop sucking our money dry. rogers headquarters should be nuked off the face of the planet.

D.

@ lofi

This the key: “all existing consumers need to know is that they are free too keep their current plan with SAF, but any voice plan changes after October 5th (or anyone who joins Rogers, for that matter)”, that means they will not just go ahead and change your plan, it’ll stay the same untill you make any changes to it yourself, so no, you can’t walk.

http://threeshadesofawesome.com David

As someone who works at a Rogers Dealer I laughed out loud when I read this today. I have a friend who kept saying that he wouldn’t get a phone with Rogers that wasn’t on paygo till they got rid of the SAF. He recently activated on Fido, and I pointed out that my 10 dollar promo plan in Manitoba is only two bucks more than his even with the SAF but I get waaaay more minutes.

I’m amazed that people don’t just realize that Rogers expects to make a certain amount of money off of each customer. And I don’t see how anyone can complain about Rogers, we’re by far the best network in Canada to have a data device on. Sure if you live in some obscure rural place it might not be good, but the majority of people get great coverage, and great phones.

To be honest, for everyone who feels cell phone carriers are trying to screw their customers, trust me it works both ways. Every day I get customers who ask me if lying to Rogers over the phone might help them get a cheaper new phone, or who tell me how they’d kept renewing their cheap plan and getting unlimited local calls until they stopped that. Not to mention the number of lazy ass people who come down and harass sales people over their phones that don’t work properly cause they were douced in water.

Mr. Prawns

I am waiting for the day that they will change the contract and increase the fee and I can walk ship.

They will change go for the increase eventually and give me the opportunity to change my carrier.

Can anyone say Storm 2 on telus?

aaronaaron

+
+
+
OK I want to know…
Why is it on BGR that whenever Rogers is the focus of the article, Dr. Evil is pictured as well?
+
+
+